SCI/TECH: Energy Invention Nets Scholarship for Teen

A seventeen-year-old San Dieguito High School student has won a $100,000 scholarship for inventing a device that uses a gyroscope to convert ocean wave energy into electricity. He worked for nearly two years in his garage using parts from a tape recorder, an answering machine and other household appliances to build the device. Aaron Goldin is the son of an engineer, takes advanced courses in high school that earn him college credits, is a straight A student, plays trombone in a youth orchestra and piano in a jazz band, among other youthful pursuits.



Aaron Goldin hasn't really taken the world by storm with an earth-shattering idea. Hydro-electric power is nothing new and there are currently at least a couple of companies endeavoring to do the same thing.

www.wavegen.co.uk...
www.betterhumans.com...
news.bbc.co.uk...
www.ul.ie...


What he has done is to approach this idea from a new perspective creating a very simple device that also has the potential to extract hydrogen from water, which has value given the imperative of the Bush Administration to convert the US to hydrogen power.

I think this young man has a very bright future and shows that in every generation there are those who hold the keys to the future in their hearts and minds.

Related News Links:
www.signonsandiego.com
www.geek.com
www.prnewswire.com
www.signonsandiego.com


[edit on 04/12/11 by GradyPhilpott]

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Spectre]

Its great to see today's youth taking advantage of their fresh thoughts and using them for good! Hopefully we will hear more of this kid.

How can somebody with an idea for an invention for alternative energy production get a company or the Department of Energy interested in investing money to develop it? I have a college education in engineering so I do know what I am talking about. I have three ideas that have great potiential for producing large amounts of energy cheaply.

MBF

If I were you I would join a professional engineering association and network with engineers who are familiar with the patent process. I would say that you should do nothing until you have at least applied for a patent. After that, it would seem to me that marketing would be the most important issue.

Are you employed as an engineer?

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
MBF

If I were you I would join a professional engineering association and network with engineers who are familiar with the patent process. I would say that you should do nothing until you have at least applied for a patent. After that, it would seem to me that marketing would be the most important issue.

I second Grady's advice. Also get to know a patent lawyer very well. If you have family or friends in the field try to get them to give you a little free advice because thats worth gold.

I am a farmer, but my college education is in mechanical engineering. I am already the co-owner of a patent for an engine modification to increase the life of wet sleeve cylinder engines. We haven't gotten anywhere in marketing the invention because the manufacturers don't want admit to having the problem that our invention solves and claim that if our invention would work, that their engineers would have already discovered it. Well, it works because we have tried it. Getting a patent is expensive and with the farming situation what it is, money is hard to come by. We didn't use a patent lawyer, we did all the work ourselves. The last I heard, it costs over $10,000 for a patent lawyer to obtain a patent.

At the present, I am also working on a new boat propeller with another person. A crude prototype has already been made and preliminary tests show a lot of promise for increasing performance over current propellers.

Of the three ideas that I have for energy production, two do not need any fuel. All they need is just to be built and one can be adapted for several different situations. They are simple, would be cheap to build and should last for many years and produce large amounts of electricity. The other uses a cheap fuel that is abundant, renewable and currently is just being wasted.

One of the main reason for having partners for the first two inventions is money.

I have come up with many inventions that 10-15 years after I came up with them, I would see them being produced and on the market and other people making the millions.

Thanks Grady and Sardion.

Originally posted by MBF
We haven't gotten anywhere in marketing the invention because the manufacturers don't want admit to having the problem that our invention solves and claim that if our invention would work, that their engineers would have already discovered it. Well, it works because we have tried it.

Why don't you try E-Mailing other manufacturers to see if they are interested(unless said manufacturer that you talked to is the patent holder already then I do not really know how to proceed, maybe someone else will have an idea.

At the present, I am also working on a new boat propeller with another person. A crude prototype has already been made and preliminary tests show a lot of promise for increasing performance over current propellers.

I hope it doesn't have anything to do with Rotary Turbine technology because there is another company with quite a bit of funding already doing that(google up Mollar and Freedom Motors). But if not disregard this comment.

Of the three ideas that I have for energy production, two do not need any fuel.

I really hope you're not talking about Perpetual Motion cuz you can't patent that, as it has been deemed by the Patent Office(and Academia) to be an impossibility. I am not so sure however.

The other uses a cheap fuel that is abundant, renewable and currently is just being wasted.

Hmm interesting, please if/when you patent this can you please tell us about it, it sounds interesting.

I have come up with many inventions that 10-15 years after I came up with them, I would see them being produced and on the market and other people making the millions.

Man, I feel you're pain, My dad thought up the idea to patent closeable plastic coffie lids and tried to patent it, and they said you could't do it, then a couple of years later someone patented it(and presumabably made millions) and now everywhere you go to buy cup of coffie you get these lids, pisses my dad off whenever he sees one.

Thanks Grady and Sardion.

You're very welcome.

We wrote letters to manufactures in the US, Germany and Japan. The Japanese manufacturers were the nicest, but they wanted to see lots of engines that have run for many hundreds of thousands of miles and we just didn't have the money to do that. We did have a meeting scheduled with the head of engineering of Caterpillar, but it was cancelled because the legal department got mad because they weren't contacted first. The man did say that he was interested in the invention, but his funding was cut so he couldn't perform any tests.

The propeller invention has nothing to do with rotary turbine technology.

The power production ideas have nothing to do with perpetual motion. When I said that the two ideas don't use any fuel what I mean is like hydroelectric powerplants, wind turbines and solar cells they don't consume a purchased fuel like gas, propane or coal.

About twenty years ago, I came up with an idea for a variable valve timing to make car engines run more efficiently. About three or four years ago I saw that Mercedes Benz is putting a variably valve timing on their more expensive cars and it is just like the one that I had came up with.

Honda introduced variable valve timing in 1989. The current version, i-VTEC, which I have in my 2003 Accord, is quite impressive. In fact, the whole car is a marvel to behold. It ain't cheap, but by today's prices it's a bargain.

Having cruised through its first 100 years with just a few tweaks along the way, the internal combustion engine must now improve radically if it is to survive beyond about 2020.

So let�s focus on one of the petrol engine�s potential saviours: improved flexibility through advanced valvetrain systems, in particular Honda�s i-VTEC design being used on new models including the Civic-based Stream seven-seater, Civic Type R and StepWGN minivan.

The story began more than a decade ago. Concepts for both hydraulic and electromagnetic valve control may have broken out like a rash lately, but Honda�s VTEC (variable valve timing and lift electronic control) made its production debut in 1989 billed as the first system controlling both valve lift and timing.

The reasons for developing something like VTEC have always been compelling. In broad terms, big valves and extreme high-lift camshafts with substantial overlap of inlet and exhaust valves, while essential for top-end power, are not particularly compatible with a dawdle to the supermarket. Multiple valves helped, but what was really needed was an engine that could switch camshafts in mid-stream. Such an engine would deliver the best of both worlds.

www.indiacar.com...

www.new-cars.com...

I came up with my idea about 1981-82 and it was mechanical instead of electrical. Both will work fine. I'm glad to see the concept being used. I think that all engines have a lot of room for improvement. Just think that a semi truck pulling 80,000lbs gets about 5mpg so it stands to reason that my 8,000lb truck should get about 50mpg but it only gets about 15mpg.

I have always thought that the Accord was a really nice car. Everybody that I know that has ever had one loved it.